Stockton teens ID'd from well remains

Officials still working to put a name with one of five Shermantine/Herzog victims who have been recovered

FRENCH CAMP - Investigators on Friday identified the skeletal remains of two people unearthed last month from an old well east of Linden and believed to be victims of serial killers Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog.

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By Scott Smith

recordnet.com

By Scott Smith

Posted Mar. 31, 2012 at 12:01 AM

By Scott Smith

Posted Mar. 31, 2012 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

FRENCH CAMP - Investigators on Friday identified the skeletal remains of two people unearthed last month from an old well east of Linden and believed to be victims of serial killers Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog.

Work continues in a state Department of Justice lab to put a name on a third set of remains also recovered Feb. 12 from deep in the same Flood Road well, San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore said.

These remains belonged to people who long ago vanished in unsolved crimes.

The two victims were identified as Kimberly Billy, 19, who disappeared in 1984, and Joann Hobson, 16, who vanished in 1985. Both lived in the same east Stockton neighborhood.

An anthropologist and odontologist from the state's Department of Justice sorted through 1,000 bone fragments to identify the two victims. They used complex DNA analysis.

Moore said it appears that his office now has recovered a total of five murder victims of Shermantine and Herzog. Shermantine sent letters revealing the burial places from his cell on death row to The Record and also to Sacramento bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, who paid Shermantine for the information.

Moore invited the help of the FBI, and he said he will leave it up to federal agents to decide where to search next for more of the duo's victims.

Shermantine has hinted at remains dumped in many more wells.

"It is going to be a very long process to untangle all of these potential situations he has spoken of and the information we have," Moore said. "When we have credible info to work with, we move forward."

Arrested in 1999, Shermantine and Herzog had led a methamphetamine-fueled killing spree through the 1980s and '90s.

In 1984, the time Billy disappeared, Shermantine and Herzog would have been around 19.

Shermantine remains on death row at San Quentin State Prison, while Herzog hanged himself in January after learning that Shermantine was giving up the burial places. No remains had been recovered at that time.

About the same time the well was excavated, investigators searching in Calaveras County found Cyndi Vanderheiden, 25, who disappeared Nov. 13, 1998, and Chevelle "Chevy" Wheeler, 16, who vanished Oct. 16, 1985.

San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa, who put both killers in prison, has said he estimated they may have killed as many as 18 or 20 people. Some of those victims were recovered, while others remain missing.

Little is known about Billy, but Hobson's family had long suspected that she fell victim to Shermantine and Herzog, boyhood friends from Linden. The families of both victims felt mixed emotions, Moore said.

"We're just elated," Hobson's older sister, Michelle Loftis, said. "We're so happy we have her. She's out of the well. Pretty soon we're going to bring her home to be with her mom."

But Loftis said her mother, Joan Shelly, wasn't ready to speak. A sign taped to the front door in Manteca asked for privacy. Two small dogs yapped from behind the front door, but there was no sign of anybody home.

Loftis, 45, described her sister as a fun-loving girl and always smiling, who loved children and always wanted to help others. She was reported missing Sept. 10, 1985, 12 days after her mother last saw her.

Officials said that Billy, who also used the last name Harr, was reported missing Dec. 27, 1984. Her grandmother told deputies she last spoke with Billy on Dec. 11 and made the report after not hearing from her over Christmas.

While the third person remains unidentified, Shermantine said in a Feb. 29 letter that the Flood Road well held the remains of Hobson and an unidentified pregnant black woman.

Shermantine, an admitted drug abuser with a mean streak, maintains that he never killed anybody. He blames Herzog.

Jill Spriggs, chief of the state's Bureau of Forensic Services, spoke alongside Moore at Friday's announcement. She said DNA testing would not reveal the victim's race.

Moore said it is not possible to determine the cause of death. He will leave it to prosecutors to determine whether there is a criminal case to be made now that the remains have been identified.

Moore said about 90 people called a hotline to report that they have a loved one who may have fallen victim to the killers. This case is far from over, he said.

"I can promise them we will continue to work it," Moore said. "We will do it as expediently as possible."